Sunday, March 23, 2008

Revelations – these play such an important role. They’ve served as recurring external and internal factors in shaping the world around us, manifesting within the trends of history, literature, and art. It is because of this why coming to a vivid understanding of their existence wields a clearer more lucid view of how things around us work. There are two dictionary meanings of a revelation, both of which are worthy of being properly explored. They are as follows: “the divine or supernatural disclosure to humans of something relating to human existence or the world”; “a surprising and previously unknown fact, esp. one that is made known in a dramatic way”. As one can see the first one holds religious connotation that most have associated with the word while the second one is less divine and can be more easily adapted for everyday things. As stated before, the realm of literature is filled with revelations and its tropes. Tropes are critical parts of stories that continue to reappear throughout the plot. Thus they are what express the revelation for the audience. Example of such tropes are the activist/prophet that goes around spreading their message (the revelation), the dumb masses that the prophet is attempting to wake up, and the opposition that stands in the way of the message striving to stop the prophet’s words before they reach the masses. Most stories have all of these tropes and more. It allows for the most basic of connects to be made between the piece of work and audience. In the play An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, one can see the revelation tropes in actions. The play follows a small town doctor who tries to explain to the masses that their public bathes are infested with germs that can and has made visiting people sick. At first he was able to enlist the help of a few of his friends in the town’s newspaper, but once he came out with the information the vast majority of the towns folk turned against him, including his friends and the mayor, which just so happens to be his own brother. Those who would greatly benefit from the end results reject the doctor’s offer of redemption.The book Feed by M.T. Anderson also plays with the normal, basic tropes, but in a more sublet manner. The story is told from the point of view of Titus, a teenager growing up in a futuristic world in which many people have little chips placed in their heads called feeds. The feeds are to them are what computers are to us, only more advance; they can shop, communicate with each other, share each other memoires, surf the web, go to school – all on the feed. That little device became one of the most pivotal aspects of their lives and therefore culture. Because nearly everyone is hooked up to the feed and the feed is so well controled by the big companines in the world the wielding result is that of a consumer culture – eerie to what our own may become one day. So Titus and a group of his friends decided to go up to a resort on the moon where they meet Violet. Titus and her eventually end up dating and it is her who is revealed to be the prophet of the story as it continues to unfold.As with what seems to be a common theme with all of this stories, out of all of those that Titus hangs out with, he is the one that seems to notice things that the others can’t, but still decides to go along with the masses. As Violet pointed out when they were at a hospital after their feeds were hacked into;“Revelations do not always carry the “for the greater good” cogitation that most people have tagged to them, as seen in the Star Wars series. Throughout the movies, both father and son go through their own personal revelations, of which, ends up being apart of a larger, over arching cast of revelations. However, they end up going to opposing sides of the spectrum of good and evil. As I watched this take place, I was wondering why this was allowed to happen – why aren’t all revelations things that change people for the better. As a result, my reasoning is as follows: The outcome of going through a revelation depends on the person that is faced with it.The idea of the ‘false prophet’ verses the ‘true prophet’ carries back into literature. In the Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, the story takes place in an all-boys private school controlled not only by the teachers and administration but also by an all student underground group called the Virigls.

When you apply the ideals behind revelations that we just explored to real life, we see that it does not really work as well as what was hoped. Just like in the novels and movies, people fight against revelation for a number of different reasons. These can include being afraid of the change that the revelation will bring – the uncomfortable shift that will occur. They are already use to the current way things are around them, so they can’t think about anything past their situation. I know that I personally fight against revelations when they do not go in sync with what I wanted / already believe. When it contradicts my own internal plans. I also tend to resist when the revelation masks itself into something that just seems to be wrong and does not fit my own needs. But I noticed that just like in movies and books, the revelation keeps starting you in the face until you choose to deal with it. (Matrix part) I think that I would take the red pill.

Revelations – these play such an important role. They’ve served as recurring external and internal factors in shaping the world around us, manifesting within the trends of history, literature, and art. It is because of this why coming to a vivid understanding of their existence wields a clearer more lucid view of how things around us work. There are two dictionary meanings of a revelation, both of which are worthy of being properly explored. They are as follows: “the divine or supernatural disclosure to humans of something relating to human existence or the world”; “a surprising and previously unknown fact, esp. one that is made known in a dramatic way”. As one can see the first one holds religious connotation that most have associated with the word while the second one is less divine and can be more easily adapted for everyday things. As stated before, the realm of literature is filled with revelations and its tropes. Tropes are critical parts of stories that continue to reappear throughout the plot. Thus they are what express the revelation for the audience. Example of such tropes are the activist/prophet that goes around spreading their message (the revelation), the dumb masses that the prophet is attempting to wake up, and the opposition that stands in the way of the message striving to stop the prophet’s words before they reach the masses. Most stories have all of these tropes and more. It allows for the most basic of connects to be made between the piece of work and audience. In the play An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, one can see the revelation tropes in actions. The play follows a small town doctor who tries to explain to the masses that their public bathes are infested with germs that can and has made visiting people sick. At first he was able to enlist the help of a few of his friends in the town’s newspaper, but once he came out with the information the vast majority of the towns folk turned against him, including his friends and the mayor, which just so happens to be his own brother. Those who would greatly benefit from the end results reject the doctor’s offer of redemption.(Matrix part) I think that I would take the red pill.Revelations do not always carry the “for the greater good” cogitation that most people have tagged to them, as seen in the Star Wars series. Throughout the movies, both father and son go through their own personal revelations, of which, ends up being apart of a larger, over arching cast of revelations. However, they end up going to opposing sides of the spectrum of good and evil. As I watched this take place, I was wondering why this was allowed to happen – why aren’t all revelations things that change people for the better. As a result, my reasoning is as follows: The outcome of going through a revelation depends on the person that is faced with it.The idea of the ‘false prophet’ verses the ‘true prophet’ carries back into literature. In the Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, the story takes place in an all-boys private school controlled not only by the teachers and administration but also by an all student underground group called the Virigls.

When you apply the ideals behind revelations that we just explored to real life, we see that it does not really work as well as what was hoped. Just like in the novels and movies, people fight against revelation for a number of different reasons. These can include being afraid of the change that the revelation will bring – the uncomfortable shift that will occur. They are already use to the current way things are around them, so they can’t think about anything past their situation. I know that I personally fight against revelations when they do not go in sync with what I wanted / already believe. When it contradicts my own internal plans. I also tend to resist when the revelation masks itself into something that just seems to be wrong and does not fit my own needs. But I noticed that just like in movies and books, the revelation keeps starting you in the face until you choose to deal with it.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Revelations – these played such an important role. They’ve served as recurring external and internal factors in shaping the world around us, manifesting within the trends of history, literature, and art. It is because of this why coming to a vivid understanding of their existence wields a clearer more lucid view of how things around us work. There are two dictionary meaning of a revelation both of which are worthy of being properly explored. They are as follows: “the divine or supernatural disclosure to humans of something relating to human existence or the world”; “a surprising and previously unknown fact, esp. one that is made known in a dramatic way”. As one can see the first one holds religious connotation that most have associated with the word while the second one is less divine and can be more easily adapted for everyday things. As stated before, the realm of literature is filled with revelations and its tropes. Tropes are critical parts of stories that continue to reappear throughout the plot. Thus they are what express the revelation for the audience. Example of such tropes are the activist/prophet that goes around spreading their message (the revelation), the dumb masses that the prophet is attempting to wake up, and the opposition that stands in the way of the message striving to stop the prophet’s words before they reach the masses. Most stories have all of these tropes and more. It allows for the most basic of connects to be made between the piece of work and audience. In the play An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen, one can see the revelation tropes in actions. The play follows a small town doctor who tries to explain to the masses that their public bathes are infested with germs that can and has made visiting people sick. At first he was able to enlist the help of a few of his friends in the town’s newspaper, but once he came out with the information the vast majority of the towns folk turned against him, including his friends and the mayor, which just so happens to be his own brother. Those around and who would greatly benefit from the results in the end reject the doctor’s offer of redemption.

Revelations do not always carry the “for the greater good” cogitation that most people have tagged to them, as seen in the Star Wars series. Throughout the moives, both father and son go through their own personal revelations, of which, ends up being apart of a larger, over arching cast of revelations. However, they end up going to opposing sides of the spectrum of good and evil. As I watched this take place, I was wondering why this was allowed to happen – why aren’t all revelations things that change people for the better. As a result, my reasoning is as follows: The outcome of going through a revelation depends on the person that faced with it.

About Me

A freshman at Susquehanna University, pursuing interests in technology, language and the social sciences.
My blogging is centered around sharing knowledge and expanding what is already known. The more people are willing to cast their ideas into the fray, the better for all of us.
Are you ready to join in?